


The Calm Before the Storm

by Dont_touch_the_phlebotinum



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), M/M, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Reformed Loki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-10
Updated: 2014-10-10
Packaged: 2018-02-20 16:02:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2434682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dont_touch_the_phlebotinum/pseuds/Dont_touch_the_phlebotinum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With Ultron's attack on humanity imminent, Tony and Loki find the best way to spend what could be their last night on Earth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Calm Before the Storm

Avengers Tower was quiet – eerily so. There were almost a dozen people staying there, and no doubt countless more still hard at work lower in the building, but with JARVIS shut down as a precautionary measure in case Ultron managed to take control of him, there was a sense of emptiness to the tower that just added an extra kick in the stomach to this whole mess.

Tony sighed as he made his way through the darkened rooms. Maybe it was stupidly sentimental, but it felt like he was without one of his friends. He didn't know if the others felt the absence. They probably had bigger things on their minds, what with the imminent annihilation of the human race and all.

No thanks to Tony.

God, he needed a drink.

He was halfway across the communal lounge towards the bar when he noticed a silhouette on the balcony outside. It seemed Tony wasn't the only one having trouble sleeping. Well in that case, there was no sense in drowning his sorrows alone. He snatched up a bottle of scotch and two tumblers and went to join them.

"Isn't it past your bedtime?" Tony said from the doorway before he took a step out into the balmy night air.

Loki glanced over his shoulder to look at Tony. There was a tiny smile on his face, though he didn't say anything in return. He didn't seem to be much of a talker these days. Maybe he just didn't think any of them were worthy of his conversation.

"Drink?" Tony held up the bottle as he moved to stand beside Loki and Loki gave a curt nod, reaching to take the tumbler Tony handed him. The quiet clink of their glasses tapping together was lost amidst the buzz of traffic and sirens echoing up to them; a typical Saturday night in Manhattan. Honestly, Tony had expected the hush in the tower to extend throughout the city. It just didn't feel right to see the world carrying on as normal at a time like this.

They drank in silence for a while, both lost to their own thoughts as they gazed out at the landscape, Tony refilling their glasses without prompting until finally Loki spoke. "They have no idea, do they?"

"Probably not," Tony replied. "Or maybe they do, and they're out making the most of the little time they have left." He could understand that impulse. He'd do the same himself if things were different.

"Do you really trust me to join the fray in this?" Loki's face was thoughtful as he turned to meet Tony's eyes.

"The others don't." Hell, most of them didn't even want Loki wandering free in the tower at all. Though Loki had been a model prisoner after his doomed attempt at world domination, and his advice had helped them out in times of trouble more often than the team would like to admit since. He was probably about as reformed as he was capable of getting. "But this is worse than anything we've seen – it doesn't make sense to have someone as powerful as you sitting on the sidelines."

Loki was shooting Tony an odd look when he glanced away from the lights glittering on the river to look back at him. "Oh, I'm sorry, did that offend you?" he said over the rim of his glass as he fought the urge to roll his eyes. Loki's rage might have died away since the Battle of New York, but his ego was in no danger of following suit.

"I am a god; I don't think it's unreasonable to wish to be considered somewhat more intimidating than this artificial intelligence of yours."

"You never tried to wipe out the human race."

"I still could, if the mood strikes," Loki replied, though there was a glint of humour in his eyes.

"Yeah? You thinking of betraying us, Loki?"

He shrugged. "I've not decided yet."

God, Tony really hoped Loki was kidding. It wasn't always easy to tell with him, and a tiny hint of doubt churned uncomfortably in Tony's stomach as he searched Loki's face for reassurance. Loki stood for himself, first and foremost; he'd have no hesitation in teaming up with Ultron if it looked like things were going in his favour rather than the Avengers'. And if he did, they might as well kiss the planet goodbye right now. Defeating Ultron was a colossal enough task without having to contend with Loki on top of it. They desperately needed him on side.

"I'd be appreciative if you didn't," Tony said sweetly.

"Do you think that will sway my decision, Stark?"

Tony clutched his hand to his chest in mock surprise. "Wait, you mean your every action _isn't_ influenced by how it affects me?" he said, and Loki chuckled. "There – I made you laugh. You can't kill us."

"I suppose not," Loki titled his head in agreement while he spoke, the dark liquid in his glass he swirled absentmindedly catching the light with its movement. "Besides, I like the food here."

"That's often been the point to sway me against destroying civilisation."

A cacophony of blaring car horns below them drowned out the quiet tinkle of their laughter before Loki turned back to gaze out at the city thoughtfully. The look was less calculating than usual, and it made him appear softer somehow; more human. It seemed fitting that Tony should be the only one to see him like this.

It had only been around six months or so that Loki had been trusted enough to wander the tower without even Thor's supervision, and in that time Tony had been the sole person Loki had had any time for. He was intrigued by Tony's work, dropping by the workshop to ask questions and offer advice or simply sit and watch him, and he enjoyed the verbal sparring that usually followed. And which usually went hand in hand with a pretty hefty dose of flirtation.

Tony couldn't say he minded it, either. It was nice to have someone who could give as good as he got, someone other than Bruce who understood Tony's work. There was something between them – not full-blown attraction, necessarily; more like some kind of mutual respect, however grudging it may have been at first. Maybe that was why Tony was more prepared to trust Loki than his teammates were.

"You know this being," Loki said, his tone serious again. "You created it."

That was one way to wipe the smile off Tony's face in an instant. "I did," he said, clenching his jaw while his hand tightened around his glass.

"Do you know when it will launch its attacks?"

He sighed, staring down at his drink. There was only one mouthful left, but despite his fingers itching to, Tony didn't reach for the bottle on the table beside them to fill it again. It wouldn't fix anything. It probably wouldn't even provide the momentary respite from the guilt weighing on him that he longed for. He didn't deserve it anyway.

"It could be tomorrow. Could be next month. Could be five minutes from now." He was kind of hoping for the latter, actually. Ultron had to have all his ducks in a row by now, and there was nothing more the Avengers could do to prepare themselves to face him. They were stuck in limbo until Ultron made his move. "The waiting is the worst part."

"You should get some sleep."

"Should," Tony nodded. "Can't." He wasn't sure he'd ever felt this restless. Sitting around waiting to die wasn't his usual battle strategy. "If we could be wiped out at any minute, it kinda feels like a waste to spend time sleeping."

"This is hardly a preferable way to spend your last hours."

"Ah, you're not so bad," said Tony with a smile as he turned to lean back against the glass wall of the balcony. He'd enjoyed the view enough times to be able to recreate it in his mind's eye, but seeing Loki like this, having the closest thing to a proper conversation they'd ever had? This was new.

"And your friends?" Loki replied before he gulped down the last of his drink, his Adam's apple bobbing beneath his skin and drawing Tony's attention down to his long neck. "Where are they?"

"Trying to get some sleep. Which probably means they're doing anything but." Tony finished his drink as well and reached to take Loki's glass from him, setting them down on the table before gazing back at Loki still savouring the sight of the city. "What would you do?"

"If I knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that this was to be my last night?" He paused for a moment to consider. "Well I wouldn't want to spend it alone, for one."

"Likewise," Tony said. And if he inched closer towards Loki as he did so, it was purely unintentional.

A tiny smile played on Loki's lips. He had to have noticed Tony closing the distance between them, but while he didn't call attention to it, Loki didn't seem to have any objection either. "I'm surprised you aren't out, then," he said as he nodded towards the buildings stretching out before them. "Surely there's a bevy of beautiful women desperate for a place in your bed."

Tony shrugged. He wasn't sure he had it in him to roll out the playboy Tony Stark act tonight. It was exhausting at the best of times.

"I'm not up for delivering the 'we could die at any moment so let's make our last night mean something' speech." What he really needed was someone who already understood, but there was a pretty short list of people in Avengers Tower that Tony was keen to spend the night with. Luckily for him, though, that list was in close proximity. And moving closer. "And I don't want to risk wasting it on bed sex."

"What do you want, then?"

"Someone who gets the importance of it. Someone who knows what they're doing." Someone who's had centuries of practice, perhaps. "Wouldn't you?"

"Absolutely," Loki said. It was more like a purr than a word. He knew exactly what Tony was thinking – and was evidently more than willing as well. Unless this was just some cruel trick, but that thought wasn't going to stop Tony. It wasn't like he'd have long to be embarrassed about it.

Tony's eyes flicked briefly from Loki to the double doors behind him. The room was dark inside, but surely if anyone had entered they would have come and joined Tony and Loki on the balcony rather than staying lurking in the shadows watching them. That was probably Clint's idea of hilarity, actually, though if he was in there, finding Tony and Loki almost pressed against each other would serve him right.

"Meet me upstairs?"

Loki nodded again, a grin stretching across his face while he took a step back to allow Tony to slide from between the wall and Loki's body. He grabbed the bottle of scotch to take with him as he headed back inside. He'd replace it if they survived.

 

Ten minutes later Tony was sprawled naked on his bed, Loki's long fingers buried inside him, working him open slowly, meticulously. Fingers circling the rim of Tony's muscle, rubbing against his prostate until Tony was writhing and moaning beneath him. His hands slid down Loki's sides to dip under the hem of his tunic and brush the firm muscles of his stomach, before moving lower again, his fingertips slipping beneath the waistband of Loki's leather pants.

"You know," he said as he wrenched open the laces, "when you first decided to make Earth the target of your oversized temper tantrum, I never would have guessed we'd one day end up here."

"I think I would have much rather just killed you," replied Loki. "Although," he added, a wink of a smile in his eyes, when Tony pushed his pants down far enough to free Loki's erection and encircle it with his hand, "perhaps this will be more fun."

No arguments from Tony there. Loki's cock was impressive enough to make Tony feel just a tiny bit inadequate, and if he was as skilled with it as he was with his fingers, Tony was not going to regret this one bit.

"And you never know, maybe Ultron will kill me and the others and you'll get the best of both worlds."

"We can hope," Loki said brightly, and pulled back from Tony's hand to tear off the rest of his clothes while Tony reached for the bottle of lube again. He quickly coated Loki's dick and tossed the bottle aside, too distracted by Loki positioning himself between his legs to pay attention to what he was doing himself.

He groaned as Loki slid inside him. He was thicker than Tony had been anticipating, stretching him even despite Loki working him open so thoroughly, and he pushed Tony's thighs up to sink in even deeper as he leant forward to catch Tony's lips in a kiss. It wasn't as forceful as Tony had been expecting from a kiss from Loki; the hint of roughness was still there, in the trace of teeth against Tony's lip and the tiniest suction as he worked his way along Tony's jaw and down his neck, though the kiss was more teasing than anything. Making Tony burn for more before Loki delivered.

Well it was working.

"Don't hold back," Tony said.

And Loki didn't. He set out a fast but not brutal pace, his hands gripping the backs of Tony's thighs while he moved – and God, the way he moved. Tony had never seen anyone roll their hips with the expert fluidity Loki did, his muscles tensing and releasing hypnotically with his movements and breath coming out in ragged pants between the strings of moans, curse words and desperate pleas to the heavens Tony was filling the room with. Just watching Loki would have been enough to heat Tony's blood, let alone feeling the drag of Loki's dick inside him, angled perfectly to send sparks of overwhelming sensation through Tony's nerves with each thrust.

"If we don't die, I am going to have some horribly disappointing sex after this."

Loki paused and let out a breathless laugh above him. "Would you have me underperform then, so your next partner doesn't seem quite so terrible in comparison?"

"Don't even think about it," he said, and with a grin Loki resumed his pace.

Sweat was beading on Tony's skin already, his head thrown back into the pillows as he arched his back off the mattress, and hands scrabbling to the firm, round swell of Loki's ass to pull him closer. He was a little too big for it to really be comfortable having him buried in Tony completely, but he didn't care. Didn't care that his throat was raw; didn't care how tightly Loki's fingers were digging in to his skin; didn't care that his thighs ached from being held up for so long. The pleasure coursing through him and building low in his belly was enough to soothe his discomfort. And when Loki pulled back, teeth grazing Tony's nipple before he sank lower to lick up the puddle of precum collecting on Tony's stomach, Tony forgot about it completely.

"Why didn't we start doing this months ago?" he breathed, biting back a gasp when Loki sank into him fully again and resumed his grind against Tony's prostate. It wasn't like he'd had anyone else in the time Loki had been in the tower. If he'd known then how good this felt, he would have jumped Loki the moment he'd first strolled into Tony's workshop.

"I'm not sure your teammates would have approved of that."

"You know, their approval doesn't tend to factor into my decision-making."

That was probably how they'd ended up in this mess in the first place, but Tony couldn't think about that now. He didn't want to think about anything but Loki. It was a wonder he could think at all, actually. He was so close now, his toes curling and fingers tightening on Loki's ass as his muscles clenched around him. He moaned into Loki's mouth when he pulled him down for another kiss, his hand on Loki's back holding him against Tony's body, and at long last Loki's hand snaked between them to wrap around Tony's cock. He managed to hold out for a few firm strokes of Loki's hand before the tension curling in him reached its breaking point and Tony came.

"God..." He couldn't manage anything more intelligent than that just yet. It felt as if he might melt into the mattress, his body too limp to move as he gulped down mouthfuls of air.

But Loki wasn't done with him yet. With one quick kiss to the corner of Tony's mouth he pushed back up to his knees, his pace never slowing as he kept fucking Tony. His body was too sensitive in the wake of his orgasm, though he didn't push Loki away. Instead he watched through heavy-lidded eyes as Loki's thrusts grew more frenetic, his moans falling unchecked and drowning out the sounds of Tony's gasps, and soon enough Loki was making the most sinful noise above him as he reached his own climax. The expression on his face was one Tony could die satisfied having seen.

Loki's hips slowed to a stop and he sank back to sit on his heels while Tony mustered the energy to prop himself up on his elbows. "Good enough way to spend your last night in existence?" he said.

"I've had worse, I suppose."

Tony shoved him with his foot in retaliation. It didn't so much as knock Loki off balance. "I was amazing and you know it," he said and Loki chuckled in response. Well he wasn't denying it.

His eyes shifted from Loki wiping at his sweat-damped cheeks as he caught his breath to the bathroom door. Could he really be bothered to get up and clean himself off? More than anything he felt like collapsing back and finally getting some sleep, but then if Ultron did make his move tomorrow, Tony didn't much want to go marching to almost certain death still covered in dried cum. That was his decision made, then. He pushed himself off the bed with some difficulty and ambled into the bathroom.

Loki had recovered enough to start retrieving his clothes scattered across Tony's floor when Tony re-emerged, ready to make his way back out of the room and off to do whatever the hell it was Loki got up to when left to his own devices. "Don't go," Tony said.

He wasn't sure why, exactly. He'd gotten what he wanted. But he wasn't ready to be left alone with his thoughts again just yet. "Just... don't go."

Loki stared at him in response, but the scathing brush-off Tony braced himself for never passed his lips. Instead he nodded after a moment's consideration and followed Tony back across the room and into bed, whatever objection he ordinarily would have had to anything that might require him to lower his guard surprisingly absent. Hell, he even wrapped his arms around Tony when he settled beside Loki. Wanting one last orgasm in case they all died was an understandable position, but this was a tenderness Tony hadn't even known Loki was capable of.

Tony would probably be running away from this himself under any other circumstance. It was _Loki_ , for crying out loud. But here they were, so Tony let Loki curl around his back, leaning into his embrace with a satisfied smile while Loki's hand slid down Tony's side and ghosted along his thigh.

"We should do this again, before you get yourself killed," Loki said, his lips brushing Tony's ear with the words.

Tony hummed in agreement, already starting to drift off in Loki's arms. In that case, he hoped Ultron's attack was a long damn time away.


End file.
